Structural-safety-evaluation-oriented finite element modeling of Runyang Cable-stayed Bridge

The strategy and methodology of structural-safety-evaluation-oriented baseline FE modeling are presented to develop a baseline model for a newly constructed Runyang Cable-stayed Bridge over the Yangtse River, Jiangsu, China in the paper. The concept of the safety-evaluation-oriented-modeling is essentially a multi-scale combination of the FE model for modal analysis of the entire bridge structure, and the FE sub-models for local stress analysis of the selected locations. The developed three-dimensional global-scale and local-scale FE models have achieved a good correlation with the measured dynamic properties identified from field ambient vibration tests and local stress distributions of steel box girder measured from vehicle loading tests. The validated multi-scale finite element models validated through ambient vibration test and field load test results can serve as the baseline for more precise response predictions for long-term health monitoring and safety evaluation of the bridge.